Inside Spain: The fight to stop family-run shops from closing down

Spain’s oldest bookstore in Burgos avoided closure after a crowdfunding campaign raised 60,000 in 13 days to cover urgent debts. Hijos de Santiago Rodriguez has operated for 176 years and survived major disruptions including the Spanish Civil War and the Covid-19 pandemic. The manager said bookselling is a wonderful profession but not a profitable business. Small neighbourhood businesses that shape Spanish cities are struggling to compete with large online and retail players such as Amazon. Spanish city centres still retain a people-run character through family businesses like florists, haberdasheries, shoe-repair shops, and owner-named bars. These businesses help keep streets unique, lively, and pleasant, even as franchise stores and changing shopping habits challenge their survival.

"The owners of Spain's oldest bookstore managed to avoid closure thanks to a crowdfunding campaign which raised 60,000 in just 13 days to cover "urgent debts". Hijos de Santiago Rodriguez, in the northern city of Burgos, are sixth-generation booksellers. They've been around for 176 years, survived the Spanish Civil War and the Covid-19 pandemic, but as manager Lucia Alonso admitted, "bookselling is a wonderful profession, but not exactly a profitable business"."

"So what next for Hijos de Santiago Rodriguez and the tens of thousands of other small businesses that are the fabric of Spanish society but struggle to turn a profit in the face of changing consumer habits? For some foreigners, visiting Spanish cities may feel a bit like a beacon of nostalgia. Think of what's happened to the British high street over the past twenty years, increasingly devoid of shoppers and with the same franchise stores offering zero character."

"Spanish city centres and the shops within them maintain that essence that other countries used to have. They are still very much run by people, for the people. Florists, haberdasheries, shoe-repair stores, bars named after the owner - family-run businesses are what makes each ciudad (city) unique, lively and pleasant. That's not to say that all Spanish high streets aren't packed with the same five Inditex clothes shops (Zara, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius), and other franchise stores you see from up in Barcelona to down in Badajoz."

Read at www.thelocal.es